Hanzomon Line — Tokyo subway
Purple line from Shibuya to Oshiage, short in itself but tied to Tokyu and Tobu for nearly a hundred kilometers.
The Hanzomon Line at a glance
The Hanzomon Line covers 16.8 km through Shibuya, Minato, Chiyoda, Chuo, Koto and Sumida. It is shorter than almost every other line on the Tokyo subway and runs some of the longest services: a through train from Chuo-rinkan on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line to Minami-kurihashi on the Tobu Nikko Line covers 98.5 km in one run, nearly six times the length of the subway section.
It has a direct interchange with every other Tokyo Metro and Toei line, and it meets the Ginza Line at five stations. The name belongs to Hanzomon, the western gate of the Imperial Palace, itself named after the sixteenth-century samurai Hattori Hanzo; a Tokyo tram line had used the same name since 1903.
What to watch out for on the Hanzomon Line
Service hours on the Hanzomon Line
| Timetable | First – last departure on the line |
|---|---|
| Weekdays | 05:02 – 00:37 |
| Saturdays, Sundays & holidays | 05:02 – 00:22 |
Departure times come from the operators’ own GTFS timetables (ODPT GTFS Toei-Train-GTFS (version 20261009, valid 2026-03-14..2027-03-12) + TokyoMetro-Train-GTFS (version 20261008, valid 2026-09-19..2027-03-12)). Japan publishes two subway timetables: 平日 weekdays and 土休日 Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. There is no separate Sunday timetable, and the December 30 – January 3 period runs the holiday timetable. Each station page gives its own first and last train by direction.
How often trains run
| Timetable | Morning peak (08:00) | Midday (12:00) | Evening (21:00) | Measured at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekdays | 2.3 min | 5 min | 3.7 min | Otemachi |
| Saturdays, Sundays & holidays | 4.7 min | 5 min | 5.7 min | Otemachi |
Average gap between trains in one direction at the busiest station of the line.
Where you can transfer
| Station | Other lines | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| Z01 Shibuya | GGinza FFukutoshin | Tokyo Metro |
| Z02 Omote-sando | GGinza CChiyoda | Tokyo Metro |
| Z03 Aoyama-itchome | GGinza EOedo | Toei Subway Tokyo Metro |
| Z04 Nagatacho | YYurakucho NNamboku | Tokyo Metro |
| Z06 Kudanshita | TTozai SShinjuku | Toei Subway Tokyo Metro |
| Z07 Jimbocho | IMita SShinjuku | Toei Subway |
| Z08 Otemachi | MMarunouchi TTozai CChiyoda IMita | Toei Subway Tokyo Metro |
| Z09 Mitsukoshimae | GGinza | Tokyo Metro |
| Z11 Kiyosumi-shirakawa | EOedo | Toei Subway |
| Z12 Sumiyoshi | SShinjuku | Toei Subway |
| Z14 Oshiage (Skytree) | AAsakusa | Toei Subway |
A transfer to a line of the other company is a change of railway as well as of platform: your fare is the sum of the two, less the connecting discount. See fares.
Transfers on foot to a differently named station
| From | To | Lines there | On foot (estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nagatacho | Akasaka-mitsuke | Ginza Line and Marunouchi Line | about 4 min |
| Suitengumae | Ningyocho | Hibiya Line and Asakusa Line | about 7 min |
These are official transfers recorded by the operators between stations with different names. The walking time is our estimate from the distance between the platforms — no operator publishes transfer walking times.
History
The line was first planned in 1968, alongside the Chiyoda and Yurakucho lines, to relieve the overcrowded Ginza Line, and was known during construction as Line 11. Its original route ran from Futako-tamagawa to a new station in Fukagawa; a 1985 draft moved the far terminus to Matsudo. Work began in 1972 with most of the line expected to open in 1975, and almost nothing went to plan.
Between Hanzomon and Kudanshita residents objected that they had not been consulted and that the works would damage their surroundings, and organised a one-tsubo co-ownership movement, buying tiny shares of land jointly so that acquiring it would be as complicated as possible. The authority fell back on compulsory expropriation, and even then the land took about ten years to assemble. Money was short as well. The first section, Shibuya to Aoyama-itchome, finally opened on 1 August 1978, with Tokyu through services from the first day and mostly Tokyu trains, since the authority’s own 8000 series did not arrive until 1981. Nagatacho followed in September 1979, Hanzomon in December 1982, Mitsukoshimae in January 1989, Suitengumae in November 1990 and Oshiage in March 2003, which brought the Tobu through services with it.
Trains and service
Two timetables are published, 平日 for weekdays and 土休日 for Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, and the difference shows at the end of the day: first trains leave about 05:02 on both, but the last leaves about 00:37 on weekdays and about 00:22 on the holiday timetable. Measured at Otemachi, weekday trains run roughly every two to three minutes in the morning peak, every five minutes at midday and about every four in the evening, with a four to six minute gap on Saturdays and holidays. All trains call at every station. Through services run onto the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line at Shibuya for Chuo-rinkan, and onto the Tobu Skytree Line at Oshiage for Tobu-dobutsu-koen, Kuki and Minami-kurihashi.
Rolling stock
Tokyo Metro works the line with 18000, 08 and 8000 series trains, all of them stabled and maintained at Saginuma depot, which is not on the subway at all but beside Saginuma station on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line. Because through running is so extensive you will also see Tokyu 2020 and 5000 series and Tobu 50000 and 50050 series sets on the same platforms. Tokyu 8500 and 8590 series and Tobu 30000 series trains have all worked the line in the past.
Frequently asked questions
Because they leave the subway at both ends. At Shibuya the line joins the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line and at Oshiage the Tobu Skytree Line, so a single train can run from Chuo-rinkan in Kanagawa to Minami-kurihashi in Saitama, 98.5 km in all. Those stations belong to Tokyu and Tobu and are charged by them.
From the western gate of the Imperial Palace, which the line passes, named in turn after Hattori Hanzo, a sixteenth-century samurai who mattered to the founding of the shogunate that built the castle. The name was picked in a public competition with about 7,600 entries, beating Aoyama Line, Shibuya Line, Otemachi Line and Kudan Line.
Twenty-five years passed between the first section in 1978 and the last in 2003. Landowners between Hanzomon and Kudanshita bought up tiny shares of land to obstruct acquisition, which took roughly a decade to resolve, and the collapse of the bubble economy left the operator short of the money to build.